Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 6, 1994 TAG: 9402060049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
After all, just about everybody figures it's a shoo-in. Few takers would bet against it. A similar measure passed two years ago, and had George Allen been governor then, he would have signed it.
Legislatures, however, are anything but predictable.
Activists and lobbyists on both sides of the issue know better than to predict success too early.
"There is a danger of thinking that because Allen's for it, it's a given," said Fiona Givens, communications director for the Virginia Society for Human Life. Just getting a bill out of committee to the floor of either chamber "is by no means a given," she said Friday.
In fact, that's what anti-notification forces are holding out as their best chance of defeating the legislation. "We're hoping they will defeat it in committee," said David Nova, director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge.
Like most who are following these issues, he believes "the political atmosphere has changed" in Richmond to one that is more favorable to the possibility of abortion restrictions.
Though the issue of parental notification is at the top of the list on this year's fight card, there are no fewer than eight bills related to abortion scheduled to be heard before a House of Delegates committee this week.
There are four bills related to parental consent, one that would outlaw a particular procedure for late-term abortions, one specifying what information a doctor must give a patient before performing an abortion, one that would classify a fetus as "a person" for the purposes of the state's murder statute, and one that would toughen penalties for blocking access to a medical facility.
It has been in the Senate's Education and Health Committee that abortion opponents have had their toughest fights over the years. Once again, that panel will have first crack at the Senate's parental-notification bill - which is identical to two of those in the House.
In 1992, the Senate committee thought it had killed a notification bill by first shelving it and later voting it down. But anti-abortion strategists were able to amend the legislation to a juvenile courts bill.
Once on the Senate floor, the age below which notification would be required was lowered from 18 to 16. The House - which already had approved a measure requiring notification for those younger than 18 - rejected that, and the Senate quickly agreed to the higher age.
Then-Gov. Douglas Wilder asked for amendments that the legislature rejected, then he vetoed the bill.
It appears that the political strategy is taking a new twist this year, as longtime abortion-rights supporters have signed on as sponsors or patrons of parental-notification bills.
Del. Shirley Cooper, D-Yorktown, for instance, has introduced a bill that would allow doctors to use their own judgment about whether notifying a parent would be "in the minor's best interests."
Givens and other abortion opponents label Cooper's effort - and any others that allow doctors to bypass the notification provision without a court's permission - as "phony notification."
Cooper's less-restrictive notification proposal has drawn some support from abortion-rights advocates. Many, however, fear that it could be amended on the House or would impose mandatory jail time and fines on those who repeatedly block access to health-care facilities. Convictions include sentencing of at least 30 days in jail and a minimum fine of $2,000. Senate floor to include restrictions they don't want.
The bills generally seen as having the greatest likelihood of passage require that at least one parent or guardian be notified - not necessarily give consent - before a doctor can perform an abortion on a minor.
The bills allow minors to seek a court's approval for an abortion without notifying a parent if they fear recrimination. Judges would be required to hear such a confidential request within four days of its being made. Judges would be able to allow the abortion if they believe "the minor's best interests would be served" or that the minor is "mature and capable of giving informed consent."
The bills also allow a physician to perform an abortion without notifying a parent or court if a minor says she is abused or neglected and the physician reports the abuse or neglect to a welfare or social-services department.
Another bill is related to the controversial practice of clinic blockades.
The legislation, introduced by Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke, would impose mandatory jail time and fines on those who repeatedly block access to health-care facilities.
The bill would require that those convicted of second and subsequent violations of the law be sentenced to at least 30 days in jail and a minimum fine of $2,000. The bill specifically denies judges the option of reducing the penalties below those levels.
Though not directly linked to abortion, another bill would allow prosecutors to charge those whose actions cause the death of a fetus with murder. The measure specifies that "a fetus is considered a person and can be a victim of murder."
Though the bill specifically targets those who cause the death of a fetus by physically attacking or killing a pregnant woman, abortion opponents hope that recognizing the fetus as a person would allow additional restrictions on abortions.
In another measure, abortion opponents are hoping outrage over a method of abortion used in the last three months of pregnancy will lead to its ban.
Del. Roger McClure, R-Centreville, wants to outlaw the procedure - called dilation and extraction.
In the past year, anti-abortion groups have widely disseminated descriptions of the procedure in an effort to generate public opposition to it.
Virginia law allows third-trimester abortions only when three physicians agree that the life of the pregnant woman is in danger or she is likely to suffer substantial impairment of her physical or mental health.
More than 30,000 abortions are performed in Virginia each year. The number of third-trimester abortions is estimated by activists on both sides of the issue to average fewer than six each year.
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GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
by CNB